#+SETUPFILE: ../../template/level-1.org
#+OPTIONS: toc:auto
#+TITLE: The Fenris Punk Universe
#+Description: History and background for use with the campaign setting.


* Introduction

Fenris Punk takes place typically in the Seattle metro in the
2060s. Fossil fuels and jet travel have become so expensive that North
America has finally joined the rest of the world and adopted train
technology. Megacorporations have risen in power. Wizards, elves,
sentient AI, and cybernetic technologies have reshaped the world.


* History

** 9/11

A series of six coordinated terrorist attacks by corporate-funded
terrorist groups and mercenary contractors attacked the United States
and Canada on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks
killed 9,433 people (not counting the terrorists who also died),
injured over 11,000 others, and caused at least $29 billion in
infrastructure and property damage. Additional people have died of
9/11-related cancer and respiratory diseases in the months and years
following the attacks.

The attacks included four passenger airliners and two private
jets. Two of the passenger airliners hit the New York City WTC
Buildings One and Two, respectively. The third airliner hit the
Pentagon. Hijackers of the forth airliner, Flight 93, originally had
intended to also strike the Pentagon, but quickly changed course and
flew for an emergency landing in Toronto. Before anyone suspected foul
play, the hijackers detonated a 3 kiloton nuclear weapon which had
been smuggled on as luggage. The fifth, a private jet, flew over Los
Angeles and detonated a 20 kiloton nuclear warhead. The sixth jet, the
second private jet, took off from Las Vegas but made an emergency
landing due to engine failure. The terrorists were unable to detonate
their warhead, but crashed their plane into the middle of the tarmac.


** War on Terror

The attacks lead to a series of world-wide policy shifts in democratic
nations, trading personal freedoms for security. Also, in the name of
democracy, many of these democracies declared war on several nations
in the Middle East. Canada and the United States responded to the
September 11 attacks by launching the "War on Terror". Both countries
drew up their own domestic surveillance plans, aided by the Canadian
Anti-terrorism Act and the US Patriot Act and eventually as a NATO
treaty The Act. The new law devastated the air transportation
industry. Fewer and fewer passengers wanted to travel by air.

In the beginning, only a single terrorist group received much of the
blame for the attacks and the rest of the world were none the wiser
about the corporate funding. However, as wars in the Middle East
devastated and completely wiped out the terrorist groups, government
contracts with NGOs continued to rise. Scapegoat after scapegoat,
invasion after invasion, the military campaigns continued until no
Middle Eastern country remained the same. Military occupations turned
into corporate propaganda machines for restoring peace,
infrastructure, and security. Many US-based corporations grew and grew
until 2025 when the last Middle Eastern war ended.


** Fossil Fuels

Canada and the United States declared they would discontinue all
petroleum trade with the Middle Eastern countries in 2007, except for
Saudi Arabia. Within months the economy took a downward turn but the
sharp increase in employment in North America pulled the two countries
out of the recession while other countries suffered for the next five
years. This increase in fossil fuel use dropped the value of oil in
North America, sparking a feedback loop that dropped the cost of
transportation, increased the use of petroleum, and skyrocketed the
amount of greenhouse gases. This also opened a new market for
clean-air products.

But by 2020, fossil fuel prices caught back up with the rest of the
world again. The airlines continued to suffer. Many of them
consolidated to survive the economic hardships. Other corporations
grew and filled the gaps in transportation that the airlines left
behind. Several high speed trains started to show up across North
America. And a few years later, by 2024, breakthroughs in safe
hydrogen storage, helium production, and grapheen technology put
airships back into commercial use for the first time in almost a
century.


** Apophis

On Friday, April 13 of 2029, the comet Apophis which originally most
scientists predicted would pass between Earth and the Moon, crashed
into a top secret satellite. The impact gave Apophis enough of a
change in trajectory that it plummeted into the middle of Greenland.
The impact from the comet and the debris that followed melted a
significant portion of the ice sheet. Initially this caused winter
effects around the globe, but it also increased sea levels and
decreased the reflectivity from the ice, trapping in more heat.
Unbelievably, the impact itself caused no deaths. However what
followed changed the world forever.


** The West Secedes and Magic Appears
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: cascadia
:END:

During one of the worst fire seasons ever in recorded history, on
September 16 of 2032, the western half of the City of Portland, Oregon
burned to the ground, including the downtown area and surrounding
suburbs west of the Willamette River. The smoke covered most of North
America, and drifted across the globe. Smaller fires from California
all the way up to Alaska turned the sky dark red. The fires and the
smoke alone killed a half million people. Neither the US nor the
Canadian governments offered any direct support, claiming political
mismanagement and corruption caused the deaths and the damage. A
mutiny of officers intending to lead a group of aid from Fort Lewis,
Washington turned bloody when the entire convoy was bombed by a US
drone. Idaho deployed its national guard to assist the civilians and
to deescalate the situation. But an opportunitic terrorist attack on
the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard did the opposite. More drone attacks
forced Idaho back. Refugees from Oregon and Washingon fled to the
surrounding states and provinces all the meanwhile Oregon's metro area
continued to burn. The US Marshals deployed paramilitary to take
control of the capitols in Oregon and Washingon and warned Canada to
discontinue taking Refugees because it might provide a safe haven for
terrorists. The Canadian government backed down, but the provincial
govnerment of British Columbia refused to comply.

By November 11, the sitting president of the US had won a second
term. But a group of the richest celebrities of California along with
the state government offered an ultimatum to the US federal
government. Either help control both the fires and the unrest or
Hollywood would fund the act to secede from the union. The federal
government refused and declared war. BC allied with the West while the
Canadian federal government allied with the US federal government.

By Inauguration Day, on January 20 of 2033, the insurrection of the
West was considered almost a sure victory. In an act of military
might, the president continued with the customs. But then the first
recorded magical terrorist attack and the first sighting of a real
dragon, a reptilian, winged creature flew to Pennsylvania Avenue and
incinerated the entire procession. No one claimed responsibility. The
next day, another dragon was sighted incernating the Alberta-Dakota
Access Mega-Pipeline.

With so many political figures assassinated by the dragon, not wanting
to continue the carnage, the military generals offered a ceasefire on
January 23. California declared independence on Febuary 14. Alaska and
the unified Cascadia bioregion each declared independence on
Febuary 15. The Alaska Panhandle joined Cascadia, though the two
nations remain strong allies. The Yukon joined Alaska one week later
on the 23rd.


** TODO Fifty United States

The same year, in 2033, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas, and
Virgin Islands all became states of the US shortly after the western
secessions. Puerto Rico declared independence.


** General Earth Currency

The formation of the new governments required a new type of currency
in order for each to maintain their independence and autonomy. As a
result, 2033 also saw the birth of a global currency, originally
adopted by Cascadia, Alaska, and Puerto Rico under the common term
"credits". The system uses a post-blockchain, quantum distributed
ledger to ensure secure and private holdings and transfers.


** Underett, the Underground City

However, years before Apophis, a small group of engineers backed by a
rich investor began digging an underground shelter to survive a
massive asteroid impact. Rumours about the project surfaced (haha) in
the late 2010s of rich entrepreneurs trying to out do each other
around the globe with massive secret projects, but nothing rose to the
mainstream media coverage until after the Big-Your-Fault Dig. Most of
the history remains buried.


** The Big-Your-Fault Dig

In 2035, the Big Dig Rail from Anchorage, Alaska and to Vancouver, BC
Cascadia collapsed with multiple cave-ins from a massive
earthquake. It would have replaced some of the marine highway traffic
with safe, underground, temperature regulated rail. However, they
never completed the project, instead spending the remaining funds on
rescue and in court, paying out the families of the victims. The
Underetties revealed themselves to the world and lead many of the
tunneling rescues.


** Daifin, Big Financial Merger

In 2036 the merger between the Cascadia Financial, a state-owned
corporation, and the Japanese company Daimyo Inc to form Daifin became
the biggest merger in Cascadia. Daifin subsequently started buying up
failing companies.


** TODO Marine Arcology

Located in Whittier, Alaska. Construction started late spring 2036 and
finished summer 2038.


** You'll find it at Fenris

Fenrir was just a cracked old timer down in Portland. He owned a
co-op, but the crowd visiting didn't always look like the typical
folks looking for groceries. On the community bulletin board it said,
'You`ll find it at Fenris'.


* See Also

- [[file:archetypes.org][Archetypes]]
- [[file:../places/index.org][Places]]
